Enough! Let's not pretend we don't know. Let's not feign amazement when the machine clicks and whirs in the night. Let's take the following at face value:
Click. Whir. The following day the neighbour's dog stopped barking at Fallon. Wagged its tail instead.
Click. Click. Fallon discovered she hadn't spent as much money as she thought. Was quite well off for the the month actually.
Click. Whir. Darragh brought his overnight bag and spent the night. Unannounced, unplanned.
Click. Click. There was supposed to be a lot of grass pollen in the air but Fallon didn't sneeze or sniff. Not once. Her eyes felt fine.
Let's not even pretend that Fallon had assembled the machine correctly. There were too many combination. Too many parts that fit where other parts also fit. How could an untrained woman create a machine from parts she knew nothing about? From the blueprint of a dream?
That wasn't the point.
Not with this machine. Could it feel, it would have felt any configuration was sufficient for it to do its work. But it could not, so it did not. It just worked.
Click. Fallon found the perfect spatula at a used market. Whir. Her roses blossomed early. Admired by her neighbours who still had only closed buds, and by passers-by, who had none.
Four
Click.
That night the machine started early. As soon as Fallon went to bed. It worked through the night. It was silent. Its parts well oiled. Well cared for. The phrase 'labour or love' is invoked too often, to describe the most mundane of things. When it came to this machine, therefore, the phrase was too weak. Too watered down. So it won't be used. Let's just watch instead.
See the levers slide back and forth. See the switches go on and off. The wheel turns a full circle. One fifth of a circle back. A gear moves into position and the wheel continues. Slower now. Another full circle. Are we to see any meaning here? Are the clicks and whirs, so soft, somehow symbolic of what the machine is doing? And why is it working so hard tonight?
Unanswered questions! But watching it is kind of beautiful, isn't it? Intriguing, or hypnotic maybe? No. There's a smile here. However slight and small. It's hiding in our features. A satisfaction like watching a lean leopard creep through the grass. And like the nocturnal leopard, the machine stopped at last, when the sun rose in a clear sky. Shone through Fallon's bedroom window. Crept carefully along the floor, caressing her legs and body before at last stroking her cheeks and kissing her awake like a nurturing mother.
Darragh came over early. Fallon was still in her robe and nightgown when he rang the bell. He always rang. Rather than use his own key and surprise her in a private moment. He'd never caught her clipping her toe-nails or picking her teeth. Or worse.
"Hello, gorgeous," he said. Kissed her and completed his traditional triple greeting: doorbell, kiss, hello.
"Mm. What's that smell? The one that's not my hunky man?"
"That's me too," Darragh said. He held up a bag with a green logo on it.
"Brekkie!" she said, "let me get us set up on the kitchen."
"I'll do it. You get the coffee going. I can never figure your machine."
They ate and drank coffee.
"So, Fallon. I've been thinking," he said. Between sips.
"I don't pay you think," she said.
"I want a raise."
They laughed and smiled at each other.
"What have you been thinking about then?" she asked.
"I think. I think we should talk about it at least. About moving in together," he said.
"Oh, Darragh!" she said, "How long have you been thinking about this. I've wanted to say it for ages."
"A few weeks I guess. Then. I don't know. Everything seemed so perfect today. I just woke up and everything was so good. And I was thinking, I'm only missing one thing. To wake up with you."
"Let's do it," she said, "give notice today. We'll move your things over when we have time."
"I was going to say. I'd save a lot of money by living here. And we could use that to get a bigger place. If you want. And..."
"Say no more. I want you here," she said. She put the coffee cups away and leaned over his shoulder. Kissed him. How soft! How wonderful to connect their bodies this way. Not a kiss hello. Not I love you. This kiss meant I want you. You want me. I want you to want me. That kind. Their bodies responded. She took his hand and led him upstairs.
"This is our room now," she said, and landed on the bed. Almost bounced from the force he lay her down with. Yes. Their room. Their bed. Her man. Their moment.
Their breathing unified. Their eyes hungered with lust and love. Their hands, their bodies. Her robe was somewhere between the stairs and the bedroom. Her nightdress above her hips. Darragh's face smooth from his morning shave between her legs. Kisses up and down her thighs. His breath hard through his nose. Cooling her off like two tiny spring winds. Made just for her. Still so soft were his lips. So hard her muscle against them. Against his cheek, his neck. She caressed his face with her lower body. Tried to steer herself towards him. Him towards her. Come closer. Come closer. I want to kiss you with my other lips.
Hesitant lover between her legs. Leaned forward like it was his first. Eyes closed. Mouth pursed. And she the more experienced let her lips touch him. At once every nerve in her sex sighed with gratitude. And his too. As instincts took over. He knew what he was doing. Could read the signs. She could guide him now. Anywhere she wanted he would go. Slow and persistent she made him up and down her outer lips. Tongue darted out here and then. Tasting her. Moistening his own lips and hers.
He was a visitor here. She let him in. Like she had let him to this room. Their room. He must be allowed inside. More of his tongue moved around. Familiar environment. Unfamiliar setting. She led him around. Showed him her inner lips. Her inside. And here. Yes, here! That special place. The centrepiece of her sex. Touch with care at first. Fragile now. Careful. And she led him around again. They both got distracted and had to move back. Again and again. Not so fragile anymore. Touch it freely now. More force. She made him stiffen and relax his tongue as she circled it. Spun around it. Pushed it even. From side to side.
Each touch. Each push and each lick and lap sent a thousand thousand little fluttering butterflies along a thousand thousand paths, tickling her, brushing her, caressing her from her sex to her toes, to her scalp, to a tiny little spot on her upper arm. Faster and faster they flew. More and more took off with each group until every part of her was a storm of butterflies. Became as one. Touching her in every place at once.
They took her away.
They flew together through a void. No up or down. No Fallon. No woman, no man, no Darragh. Only the butterflies and the essence of what was her. Twisting into a spiral of colour and pleasure. Tighter and tighter the spiral wound. So tight now that it almost hurt. It was unbearable. The fabric could wind no more: it exploded. Painted everything with brown and red and gold and yellow. Unnamed hues and colours.
Fallon returned to herself. To the bed. Allowed the air inside her lungs again. Released in small, surprised gasps. She looked at Darragh above her mound with disbelief and surprise.
"You are too good at that," she said at last.
His smooth cheeks and chin and teeth glistened in the sunlight. He fell unto his back beside her and they lay there. Breathing together. Cooling together.
"Don't think I'm done with you," Fallon said. She rolled over on top of him. Pinned his arms down.
"Oh no? What are going to do to me?"
"I'm going to fuck you stupid."
She pulled his trousers and underwear off. His cock hard and ready. She wrapped her still dripping pussy around the length. Slid up and down the shaft.
"Mm. Yeah. I bet you wish you were inside me now, huh?"
"God, yes."
She guided the head of his cock along her labia. Massaged the spot just under his balls. Marvelled at how much harder it made him. How the glans grew and shrunk.
"You want me huh? You want me
to fuck you?" she asked.
"Yes. Yes!"
It was an act: she wanted him inside as much as he did. Her pussy was starved. Ravenous. Swallowed his cock with greed and longing. She read the pleasure in his face. Turned her on even more. Using every muscle she pushed and felt his cock. The texture, the size. The life. There was a living thing that moved inside her now. A part of her man. Not the most essential or important part. Usually. It was now. For both of them. She moved slowly. Let him feel every part of her as she did him. Let it slip out and breathe. Back inside to stretch her open again. Every moment heaven for her and for him. Today at last. Today they were one. In their room in the their bed in their house. Living their moment. This everlasting moment where they slowly climbed together. Eyes locked with eyes. Hands locked in hands. His sex locked in hers.
She could read those eyes. She knew he was going to erupt. And she was going to be engulfed in that eruption. Together they would melt in one. Flow. Flow down the violent river. Every wave that crashed into a rock, splashing them with cool water. And they would laugh and scream in exhilaration. She read it. It was written. It happened.
Five
And downstairs the machine did what it did. It clicked sometimes. Other times it whirred. Sometimes both. How sweet is the passage of time. How generous. One day the machine would be disassembled. After it had stopped moving. When? When Fallon and Darragh got engaged? The birth of their first child? With Fallon old, handing the machine in parts lovingly wrapped in oiled paper, in its ornate little chest, to a beloved grand-child, child, or friend?
The machine kept its secrets.
###
About the Author
Maire De Léis is a citizen of the People's Republic of Cork, in Éire. She decides how many peas goes in each pod and had her head held underwater for five years in lieu of an education.
Other stories by this author
Check your neighbourhood e-book retailer for these other stories by Maire De Léis:
Born From a Rose
The Girl who Owned Wednesday (coming soon!)
Connect with Maire De Léis
Thank you so much for reading my story! That was awesome of you. Other awesome things you can do is:
Visit my Smashwords author page: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/mairedeleis
E-mail me: [email protected]
Fallon's Wonderful Machine Page 2
